towerofanimus | Endgame: This is the Way the World Ends

I don't know. I don't know, but I do know that if I find their souls I will tear them apart.

[On to the second report.]

At its heart, immortality is the preservation of the soul on this plane. It is our duty to study the limits of the soul's potential. With the psionic abilities of children whose souls are still growing, it may be possible to separate a soul from its container and in doing so create effective immortality. The personality and memories would be preserved, and a powerful psionic such as these children would even be able to project a body outward without the aid of the glamour systems, though raising the children in such an environment does make their souls more used to the idea of such projections.

If it can be done with a powerful psionic child, it may be possible to work the technology toward making it available even to those without manifested abilities.

[Naoya is shaking. It's difficult for him to stop at this point. He has to pause at the terminal to catch his breath, but he doesn't say anything. He just moves on to the last report.]

[He will destroy them. He has to. There's no other answer. If any shred of them remains in any universe he will stamp them out until they're ground into dust. And then he'll laugh, until he can't laugh anymore.]

[Diarmuid eyes dart off in the direction that he guesses the fight with Ruana is taking place.]

Immortality. Of course...

[He almost spits the word.]

Congratulations. Your experiments worked. It's not so great as you all thought, is it?

... Lancer.

[Naoya's voice is very quiet as he opens the last report.]

Do me a favor, please. Shut up.

1369's abilities, that of barrier manipulation, are a perfect compliment to those of 37. With 1369 even the barriers between points of time can be manipulated, so he's the best option for balancing out 37 when placed in the machine. If something goes wrong, he could work as a failsafe in that manner, specifically by

[The rest of the report appears to have been deleted. There is nothing else.]

[He lets out a quiet breath, and takes a look to see if he can find any more hidden files.]

[There's nothing.]

[Naoya takes a few steps backwards once he closes things out, and looks somewhat dazed. He turns towards where Zo and Aria are.]

... I have to go.

What--wait, where are you going?

Isn't it... haa... isn't it obvious? I need to speak to her! She knows... she must know, but maybe... there's a way...

[He's not entirely coherent right now, nope.]

Naoya, focus.

[Sometimes it was useful that Waver was an expert at emotional repression. Now was one of those times.]

You can't run off like this. Even you have to know how suicidal that is.

[He turns and reaches out to grab Waver by the shirt, his eyes glimmering with madness.]

And out of all people, you think that matters to me exactly... why? I can't die either. Physically, yes. But I'll come back. I... I have been around for well over five thousand years. Death holds no fear, no punishment for me anymore.

She is the only person who might... might somehow understand.

Yeah, I kind of figured that out.

[Waver hardly even blinked at the sudden reaction or implied threat of violence.]

But you really think that shit's going to apply here? You'll end up dying and probably fucking stay that way. If you're out to kill yourself permanently, fine. But it'd be pretty fucking pathetic if all those years ended because you let your temper get to your head and did something goddamn insane.

You really think there's anything left of her that can 'understand' much of anything? It's a crying goddamn shame, but she's probably still going to rip us all apart given the chance.

[He's right. He knows Waver's right, but it's so difficult to keep himself calm. Slowly, very slowly, he uncurls his fingers and steps away.]

Then what... then what am I supposed to do about this?

We keep to the fucking plan, because it's too late to back out or change it now. Christ, I want their blood almost as much as you do, but we can't start getting distracted now. If we do that none of us are getting out of here.

... I know.

[He adjusts his haori, and tries to stop shaking.]

Just... we'll... I don't know.

[He takes a few more steps away. He's not sure what to do right now. He has to get control of his emotions, he has to think logically, but his anger is still threatening to gain control over him.]

Naoya...I do have a thought, if I may?

[While Naoya was working with the terminal, Diarmuid had noticed some very familiar markings on the man's hand. What servant had contracted with him was a question for another time then. Now...seems to be that time.]

You are bound to a servant who is fighting above, are you not? If you cannot go to her, perhaps your servant can go in your place. You should be able to connect to him through your bond and deliver a message to him.

... Right.

[He tries to take a deep breath and sends a thought to Gilgamesh. 'Ruana is old - much older than you would think. She's around my age. The scientists were trying to achieve immortality. Be very careful. We saw a video of her trying to destroy herself and she failed. I don't know yet what it would take to destroy her.']

[He runs a hand through his hair as he glances back at Lancer.]

At least Gilgamesh knows, now.

[The sent thought doesn't interrupt Gilgamesh in anything particularly important; with so many throwing themselves at Ruana, he had taken to observe the struggle -- not unlike how he might have watched things back in his world.

His eyes narrow at the revelation. 'The age-old search. What idiocy humans commit themselves to repeating.

She may not be able to kill herself, but we have yet to properly measure our true powers against hers.']

['Exactly. Let me know if you need more mana. There's not much to be done here right now but wait and stay in reserve.']

[He just shakes his head, and lets out an annoyed breath. Why anyone would want to live forever is beyond him.]

['Yes, yes. If need be, I am sure there is something in my treasury that will be useful.'

His thought conveys some agitation over this news, but it doesn't completely rid him of that normal tinge of boredom.

'She is irritated that we have Zo with us. If she will attack us with full force, it will not be long now.']

['We'll stay on the defensive here. I have a few of my own tricks... and I might see if I can find some materials to build a barrier that might at least give us a few extra seconds.']

[Gilgamesh? Really? Well, Diarmuid supposes it could be worse. It could be the Gilgamesh from his version of the war, instead of the one from his brother's. He starts to speak, but stops when he notices the look of concentration on the man's face. It's obvious that he is actually having a conversation with his servant, so Diarmuid waits until the conversation seems to be finished before speaking.]

What did he have to say?

[He shrugs a bit. ]

He suspects she may attack full force soon. She wants Zo, from the sound of it.

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